Clothes hanger rack



Jan. 11, 1955 c. v. ORE

CLOTHES HANGER RACK Filed Sept. 27, 1950 United States Patent theePatented Jan. 11, 1955 CLOTHES HANGER RACK Carl V. Ore, Harvey, 11].Application September 27, 1950, Serial No. 187,003 3 Claims. (Cl.211--113) This invention relates to an appliance for supporting aplurality of hangers such as clothes hangers or the like, and isparticularly concerned with a clothes hanger rack for supporting aplurality of clothes hangers side by side in predetermined spacedposition.

Clothes hangers are usually placed in clothes closets in a more or lesshaphazard manner. This practice results in disorderly and confusedarrangements of the articles of clothing, consequent bunching thereof,and thus requires frequent shifting and unnecessary handling of thearticles. It also induces carelessness, wastes space and causesirritation to the user.

If it is desired to air the garments or other articles carried on thehangers, the corresponding hangers are usually individually placed on aclothesline in the open. The line sags and the hangers carrying thevarious articles slip toward the lowest point, again causing bunching ofthe articles and thus preventing proper airing thereof. The sagging ofthe line and consequent slipping of the hangers and bunching of thearticles occur even if the hangers are initially widely spaced from eachother, longitudinally of the clothesline, because gusts of wind or evena slight breeze blowing against the articles of clothing promotes suchslipping.

The invention avoids these drawbacks by the provision of a rackcomprising a relatively rigid elongated supporting member from whichextends downwardly a carrier provided with spaced slots for receivingclothes hangers and having hook means for suspending the relativelyrigid supporting member either from a pole, as in a clothes closet, orfrom a line when it is desired to air the corresponding articles ofclothing.

Some of the specific objects of the invention may be briefly summarizedas follows:

One object is to provide a clothes hanger rack comprising an elongatedrelatively rigid supporting member, means extending from said supportingmember forming a carrier member having downwardly and outwardly directedlongitudinally extending yieldable walls, a plurality of holes providedin each of said walls forming in said walls longitudinally spacedtransversely aligned pairs of openings, each pair for receiving the hookof a clothes hanger in camming engagement therewith so as to hold saidclothes hangers side by side against twisting and properly spaced fromone another longitudinally of the carrier member, and hook means forsuspending said supporting member either from a pole or from a line.

Another object is to provide a clothes hanger rack as outlined in thepreceding paragraph, having a carrier member which comprises a pluralityof individual sections each comprising a pair of transversely spaced,transversely inwardly yieldable carrier wings to form a carrier supportfor a hanger, e. g., a clothes hanger in camming engagement therewith.

A further object is to provide hanger racks of the type indicatedbefore, in which the carrier member may be either integral with therelatively rigid supporting member or separate therefrom and pivotallysecured thereto.

Still another object is to provide a hanger rack of the type notedbefore having a carrier member which comprises two downwardly andoutwardly flaring resilient wings provided with transversely alignedslots for receiv ing a corresponding plurality of hangers in cammingengagement therewith, and stop means for limiting the camming motion ofthese wings under the load of the hanger supporting articles ofclothing.

The objects noted in the foregoing paragraphs and additional objects andfeatures of the invention will appear from the detailed description ofcertain embodiments, which will presently be rendered with reference tothe accompanying drawings. In these drawings,

ig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational side view of a rack, made inaccordance with the invention, which is assumed to be suspended from apole;

Figs. 2 and 3 are diagrammatic sectional views of the rack, takenapproximately along lines 2-2 and 3--3, re spectively, of Fig. l;

d 4 and 5 indicate modifications of certain structural eta s;

Fig. 6 illustrates in diagrammatic elevational side view anotherembodiment of the rack; and

7 represents an end view of the rack shown in Like numerals indicatelike parts throughout the drawings. Known elements and details will bediscussed only to the extent required for conveying an understanding ofwhat is believed to be new.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 comprises a relatively rigidelongated supporting member 11 which is integral with the carriermember, the latter comprising a plurality of pairs of downwardly andoutwardly extending carrier wings such as indicated at lift-1.2a and1313a. The structure may be formed by bending a strip of suitable sheetmaterial upon itself to form the riblike relatively rigid supportingmember 11. The side walls of the strip extend from the relatively rigidriblike supporting member 11 angularly downwardly and outwardly. Theseside walls are slotted, as indicated at 14-14a, to form a plurality oflongitudinally spaced, transversely inwardly yieldable pairs of carrierand camming Wings. Each wing of each pair is provided with a hole suchas 15-450 for receiving the hook of a hanger, such as fractionallyindicated in Fig. 2 at 16. The weight of the article of clothing on thehanger 16 produces a downward pull, causing a camming action of the hook16 on the corresponding pair of yieldable carrier wings. This cammingaction holds the corresponding hanger against twisting. The cammingmotion of each pair of carrier wings is limited by a stop such as 23, 24which may be formed by an inwardly bent portion of the correspondingwing 12 or 13. Each remaining pair of carrier wings is similarlyconstructed and provided with a stop member for similar purposes.

Hook members are in suitable manner secured to the relatively rigidsupporting member 11 of the rack, for suspending the rack from asupport. Each hook member may be made of a strip of material bent uponitself to form a small hook 21 and a larger hook 22the small hook forsuspending the rack on a support such as a clothesline (not shown) andthe larger hook for suspending it on a pole, for example, a pole 2% in aclothes closet. The small hook 21 provides for a gripping action on aclothesline and thus aids in holding the rack against undesiredslipping.

The slots 14 may be omitted in this and in other embodiments, ifdesired, in which case we would have a carrier comprising twolongitudinally continuous elongated carrier wings which are integralwith and extend from the relatively rigid supporting member 11. Thesewings are again relatively yieldable, i. e., they will yield to inwardpressure exerted thereon. From one of the wings projects an extensionsuch as 23, 24 shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to provide for a stop so as tolimit the camming motion of the two wings of the carrier. The extension23 or 24 extends in such case longitudinally throughout the associatedwing.

The stop means between the wings of the carrier member, whether thecarrier is continuous or comprises a plurality of individual pairs ofwings, may be an elastic material, for example, rubber, as indicated inFig. 4 by numeral 25. Numeral 26 in Pig. 4 illustrates the relativelyrigid supporting member of the rack and 27, 27a are the two transverselyinwardly yieldable carrier wings. Hooks for suspending the structurefrom a pole or clothesline may of course be provided, as alreadydiscussed in connection with Figs. L3.

The supporting and carrier members or sections of the rack may also beformed integral, of a plastic material, as

indicated in Fig. 5, numeral 30 designating the carrier portion and 31the longitudinally extending supporting portion. Double hooks may againbe provided, each comprising a mounting portion 32 which is embedded inthe supporting portion 31. The hook structure may be made of a stripmaterial forming a large hook 22a for suspending the rack from a pole20a, and asmall hook 21a for suspending it in gripping engagement with asupport such as a clothesline (not shown). The small hook 21a may bepunched out from the material of the larger hook and bent downwardly, asindicated in Fig. 5. Such integral double hook structure may of coursebe provided in any of the embodiments. Transverse holes such as 15 inFig. 1 are of course provided in the carrier portion 30 atlongitudinally spaced intervals thereof, to receive the hooks of clotheshangers in camming engagement therewith, as previously described. Theseapertures may carry metal linings, if desired, in order to protect theplastic material against undue Wear. The camming action is in thisembodiment (Fig. 5) practically restricted to the hook of the hanger inengagement with the relatively rigid carrier 30, whereas in thepreviously described embodiments and also in the embodiment according toFigs. 6 and 7 the camming action involves transverse inward displacementof the carrier wings responsive to the pressure exerted thereon by thehangers.

The structure indicated in Figs. 6 and 7 comprises a relatively rigidrodlike supporting member 40 to which are secured a number of doublehooks of the type described in connection with the previous structures,each double hook forming a small hook 41 for gripping engagement with aclothesline (not shown) and a large hook 42 for suspending the rack froma pole 43.

The carrier member in this embodiment is made of strip material bentupon itself to form a fulcrum for pivotal suspension on the relativelyrigid rodlike supporting member 40. The two walls of the carrier memberare yieldable,

as in the previous embodiments, and are slotted, as indi-' cated at 44,to form a plurality of pairs of transverse-' 1y inwardly yieldablecarrier Wings such as 45--46. Each pair of wings ming engagement withthe hook of an individual hanger, as in the previously describedstructures. One wing of each pair of carrier wings may again be providedwith a stop extension such as indicated in Fig. 7 at 50, so as to limitthe relative camming motion of the two yieldable wings of thecorresponding carrier section. The slots 44 (corresponding to the slots14 of Figs. 1 and 3 and to similar slots in Fig. 4) may be omitted, aspreviously explained with reference to Figs. 1-3, to provide a carrierhaving only two longitudinally extending transversely spaced wings, eachprovided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced holes 47 to formpairs of holes for receiving hangers, as described.

The stop extensions 23, 24, 50, shown in Figs. 2, 3, 6 and 7, may bemodified by bending the material thereof back upon the correspondingwings 13, 12, 45, respectively, to form a reinforced stop consisting ofa double layer of material or a stop of triangular formation in whichthe apex engages the coacting wing in stop position. The holes such as1515a and 47 for receiving the clothes hangers may be formed bydisplacing the sheet material of the corresponding areas inwardly to isprovided with holes 47 for camform inwardly and, if desired, downwardlyextending ears (between the corresponding wings), thus providing largerareas for engagement with the clothes hangers. Such ears, which may bemembers separately secured to the inside of said Wings, may alsofunction as stop members for limiting the camming motion of the wings,and special stops 'may in such case be eliminated.

Modifications as mentioned in the preceding paragraph may be employedparticularly when using relatively thin sheet stock for producing therack. Such stock may be thin strip or sheet steel, e. g., stainlesssteel. The finished rack may be enameled, if desired.

Changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A rack for supporting clothes hangers or the like comprising anelongated relatively rigid rod, a member consisting of a sheet materialbent upon itself to form an elongated cross-sectionally generallyV-shaped carrier, said carrier being in inverted position pivotallysupported on said rod with the apex portion thereof engaging said rodand with the legs thereof downwardly diverging, cutouts being formed inthe apex portion of said carrier to expose said rod at correspondinglongitudinally spaced intervals, hook means in engagement with said rodat each of said intervals and extending therefrom for suspending saidrod and therewith said carrier from a suitable support, downwardly openslots being formed in the legs of said carrier at longitudinally spacedpoints thereof to form a plurality of pairs of individual downwardlydiverging wings, and holes being formedin the wings of each pair forinserting clothes hangers therein, the downward pull of each clotheshanger attempting to draw the downwardly diverging wings of thecorresponding pair together in a camming action to an extent dependingon the weight of the garment supported thereon so as to inhibit thetwisting of the corfjesponding clothes hanger and garment supportedthere- 2. The structure defined in claim 1, together with stop meansextending from one wing of each pair to limit the relative mutualdisplacement resulting from the camming action thereof.

3. The structure defined in claim 1, comprising a second hook elementextending from said hook means.

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